Saturday, June 13, 2009

yesterday i took a wandering walk...and came upon a random parade and fair...I first noticed boys in uniform and then scantically clad girls in uniforms and I was wondering what was up. Maybe another holdiday or something so I followed a couple girls in hooker boots and cheerleading looking uniforms.And then they were everywhere and there were a ton of people watching this parade next to a park, and there was food and music and rides on the grass. It was really cool. I asked a woman what was going on and it was a city wide parade of the schools. There were marching down a long path. They all had different uniforms and and some of them were in marching bands for each school. The girls in the hooker boots were in the marching bands or in the baton twirling groups. I´ve never seen any marching bands that were SO...um sexy lol...I don´t think that would fly in the US teenage girls in black stilleto hooker boots marching down the street. I know my mom was in the marching band and highschool and I know that would not have flown in ohio lol.But this didn´t seem to bother anyone else, especially the young men and boys oggling them on the sidelines. I had a good time though, it was cool to see that many paraguayans together celebrating school and parauayan pride.There were a lot of flags, and cheering, pride, and joy. The only downside was that the haves and the have nots was never so obvious. These kids parents crearly had money to pay for these very nice uniforms, instraments, schools, and hooker boots...And there were poor kids and families selling food and other things on the sidelines. It was really sad I could tell this one little girl who was colleting empty cans towards the end, wished she could be a part of it and march and get her hair done like the other girls and wear a clean pretty uniform. I think a lot of people here are just kind of immune to the poverty because its so wide spread and they see it everyday. No one bats an eye when kids run around with no shoes, and a 6 year old tries to sell you a chicklet for next to nothing.But I still get a pang in my chest everytime.I usually try and give them something,and sometimes a I buy chicklets and tell them to keep the change. A 6year old should not be shoeless and husteling socks or whatever with their older sister all day long. They should´t have to worry about money and where their next meal is coming from. On cold nights when it rains hard I wonder if they have a safe place to sleep at night.It seriously breaks my heart because there are so many of them. Its brought me close to tears a few times, especially when I look them in eye and they look back at me with sad hungry eyes.I want to take them home with me, and feed them, and bathe them, and read them a story, and put them to bed under a warm blanket.Every child deserves those things. And I think I might have been one of them...if I had´t been adopted.I´m one of the lucky ones I guess...which also sometimes makes me feel guilty for being lucky, for having more, for not having to worry about where my next meal will be. But my guilt and sadness is nothing compared to what these poor kids have to go through. It just hurts because even though I have more I can´t fix it all,its beyond me and them its the whole country it needs a massive restructuring to helps its people, my people. I think the first major movement should be a massive distribution of condoms and birth control. Which maybe hard to do in a very catholic county but seriously there are too many starving children running around barefoot, and mothers who work hard but can barely take care of them. Planned parenthood is the best kind of parenting.Anyway, I´m all cried out on this one, sorry if this was morbid but these things way heavy on my heart sometimes. Hopefully, the kids marching in the parade will make this country better for everyone the future is in their hands.

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Yesterday, I did A LOT of fraking walking once again. My feet were trobbing by the end, but it was worth it. I had a fund day.I couldn´t fidn where the damn bus was to Itaipu so after being tired and lost this cab driver offered me a ride. I was apprehensive at first but he seemed legit and it wasn´t too much money. So, I put up my feet and he took me. On the way there of course I saw where to take the bus!It´s the same bus that goes to Hernandarias. But whatever it all worked out.I had to bring my passport becuase the dam is co-owned by Paraguay and Brasil, so I was techiqually in both countries. There was a bus tour, by this nice very informative lady. The dam gets power and energy from the rio Parana, which is separate from the Iguazu river, apparently thats more south. My geography is still a little messed up over here...I think I may have said the river was the rio Paraguay, but its the Parana.Anyway the tour was cool, and the damn is freakin massive!Then the tour guide told me that the zoo was close. So, I asked the driver if he could drive me there too.I offered to pay him a lil more, and he accepted.He told me his name, but it was hard to say and now I don´t remember of course lol.Anyway, he was nice and toured the guarani museo and zoo with me. The museo had artifacts and info on the gaurani people on one side.And on the other it had info and specimens on local animals and flora and fauna. Then down the road from the museo was the zoo, which was´t that big but had a few curios creatures I´d never seen before which was cool. Then he drove me back to the hotel, it was a long informative fun day. Then I had dinner at the hotel and had amazing pork with some sauce that was really good! Oh and on a side note the asian food is good here too.The night before I ate this place and the food was really good and they had HUGE portions.This morning was really annoying though...! Who does construction at 7 in the morning on a Sunday! I woke up to the sound of loud construction workers yelling, and slamming shit around. Conviently, they were done by 9! wtf?! I had planned to move hotels anyway, so I did this morning.I was going to move to this Austria place my tourbook recommended, but it was as cheap as it said it was.So,I found this spot down the block.It looks new,clean, has internet, breakfast,tv, and nice views. This street that its on has like 5 hotels on it, including that Austria place. So, I think I´m good, and its cheaper :) It´s really quite it today, a lot less cars and traffic. I guess because its Sunday a lot of places are closed, people go to church and chill out. I think I´m going to take it easy too.It´s sunny and a little warmer too, which is a nice relief from the cold. Oh I also bought a cute pair of jeans for like 12 buck :)I´m hungry now so I´m gonna go grab some food.

Friday, June 5, 2009

Yesterday, I spent the afternoon in Brazil. It took me 3 buses but I made to the falls, and it was so worth the trip.One brasilian man tried to help me out at one of the bus stations, but he spoke no English and barely Spanish and he completely confused me. So, I exchanged my guaranies into reals and they directed me to the tourist info desk and luckily the woman spoke English.I am still trying to get a grip on Spanish! lol and Portugese is a whole other ballpark.Anyway she gave me a much needed map and directed me to which next 2 buses I had to take. The buses weren`t that long and I got to see a lil bit of Brazil, the city right over the border is basically called the Iguazu ciudad, simple and to the point like ciudad de este.When I there I was hungry to I got to carne empanadas which were really good, and there was this British guy there who offered to take my pic in the front. I wanted him to capture the flags...but he missed it.He was nice though. Then I bought my ticket.The falls are a part of the parque nacional.So, they have these buses that you take through part of the park to the falls. Along, the way you can get off and take nature walks, go canoeing, and other activities they offer for an extra fee. I didn`t do any of the extra stuff. The falls were enough...They are huge and spread out wide across these cliffs. They have these smalls paths that you can walk up and down to get different views of the falls. It was beautiful, lush, tropical, and green. I had a great time walking up and down the little pathways. They had friendly amd informative parks people around who spoke many languages. And random people offered to take my picture infront of the falls.There were these little animals, that they told me were cousins of racoons that walked around looking for food. You are not supposed to feed them, but people have in the past.And now a lot of them are having health problems like high cholesterol from eating human food! They were cute and funny looking, and they got really close to me which was a little scary but they are tame. Parts of the paths were scary and really close to the edge of the cliffs, and made me think of my death lol. But other parts were beautiful and peaceful. Mostly it just made me in awe of nature and how powerful and beautiful it can be all at the same time.

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Yesterday, I walked to Brazil it was really cool!Oh rewind...I am now in Ciudad de Este, I arrive the day before yesterday. I took a bus...it was a long day...6hrs but I got to see the middle of the country. Which is a lot like the middle of the US farms, cows, crops, green, and mostly flat. The main differece is the ground is red...like deep red clay.And not just the Amish drive horse drawn carts...People got on and off the bus sometimes in the middle of no where...I´m assuming someone was picking them up, in the middle of the road or something. I´m staying at this hotel called Convair which from my travel book is not that expensive,has a pool, a resturant, free breakfast, room service, and a good location. And it is nice, BUT to my suprise they are under construction! The pool is outside, small, and un-usable...they are re-doing the lobby and the pool area is a holding area for their tools and stuff. Which sucks! The resturant is nice though and the breakfast spread is big and also nice. My room is also big and very comfortable, with a nice firm mattress.And the location is good right next to the main shopping area, and the bus to the Foz de Iguazu is right on the corner.I still might change hotels though...tonight the resturant has pasta night though... :)Oh and they have WiFi too! Which I didn´t know, otherwise I would have brought my laptop...instead of being in the internet place listening to bad spanish rap...Ciudad de Este basically sprung up during the creation of the Itupau dam, which is also right near by. Brazilians and Argentians come here for good deals on a large variety of goods. Yesterday, I walked around. And the city is basically like 34th or 125th times ten. It is literally rows and rows of stores, and covered markets selling a ton of the same crap over and over again.It´s a little insane.The city is very hilly unlike Asuncion, and kind of like San Francisco...there are some big hills! But at the top of the hills are very pretty views of the rio Paraguay and Brasil, and probably Argentina.I´m not sure where the Argentina Brazil border is, but I know it close...and apparently the best views of the falls are on their sides. During my walk I went into a random spot for some food. The pollo frito was not that good but the waitress was really nice. And she started to ask me a lot questions. This has happened to me 5 or 6 times now...where shops keepers or whoever are like... aren´t you paraguaya or you´re not paraguaya? And they give me a perplexed look...lol. Because I guess I look like them, but obviously when I speak I don´t sound like them at all. I didn´t really notice the accent until I went to Argentina and came back.And Argentine speak very differently!Daniela who is from Cordoba has a different accent, and her brother in laws friends who were from Buenos Aires spoke differntly also. Then when I came back I realized the Paraguayans speak diffently too, especially the ones from Asuncion. I think that is why I have a harder time understanding Leis and Karina.They are both born and grew up in the city.I don´t know how to explain what it sounds like...but its different.Anyway, back to the waitress who´s name is Sandra.She has a brother who is working in NY. I ended up telling her my whole little story.And she said she knew some Miranda´s and said she would ask them if knew of an Adolfina from Hernandarias. Which was cool and very nice of her. She seemed normal and around my age too, so we´ll see what happens.She gave me her number and I told her what hotel I was staying at. It´s a start at least, becuase I honestly did not even know where I was going to start and look for my birth family.Her sister brought her niece over the the resturant and I chatted with them for a bit then I headed out.Her niece was really cute and fat. Then I walked around getting a little lost for awhile, and thats when I walked up one of those big hills and saw the river. I was trying to get down to the river to get a better view and take some pics, and just when I was about to head back to the hotel and almost got run over by bikers and truck I saw the bridge! It´s called the friendship bride, or aduana puente de la amistad.It´s the friendship bridge between Paraguay and Brasil...so I walked to Brazil! It was really cool and fun. There are these guys on motorcycles that can take you over for a small fee. But I prefered to walk its better for my health, the environment, and my mental state...because motorcycles frankly scare me! I didn´t want to be holding on for dear life to some random man. One of them actually grabbed my arm to offer me a ride and I was so pissed, I gave him one of my infamous dirty looks and yelled no at him. Then the other guys stopped asking me too. Plus there were plenty of other people walking over too. The view was beautiful, and it was a nice sunny day...my midday it had warmed up to the 60´s. On either side of the bridge its lush greenery, and the river winds around like a snake.There is an island on one side of the brige and I wondered who´s was it.Because there was a marker in the middle of the river at separated Brazil from Paraguay.I took lots of pics :) Crossing over is nto too formal, you don´t even need to have your passport stamped. I didn´t stay in Brazil for long anyway, it looks the same as the Paraguayan side except its in Portugese, and you have to pay in Reals, and its an hour ahead which is funny because its like 10 maybe 15 walk and you´re and hour a head. I walked back on the other side of the bridge and took more pics. It was beautiful. And that is actually one thing I remember...from when I was young everything being very green. Then I went back to the hotel to rest and shower.I watched the General´s Daughter, which is very a disturbing movie, if you haven´t seen it. It was good but distubring.Then I ordered room service, I love room service :) hehe. Today I´m going to take the bus the the Foz de Iguazu...I´m waiting until it warms up a bit. I think this winter is especially cold, because Wilma told me it rains and its cold for a few days and then its back to the 70´s-80´s. But that has not been the case the past few weeks.Even on the news this morning they mentioned donating warm clothes for students, who don´t have them.Because a lot of people especially poorer people don´t own that many clothes period let alone sweaters or coats.Luckily, I packed some. When I first got hear I thought I packed to many sweater but I think I packed just enough.I actually even bought a cheap hoody last week. On a side note, there are a lot of Asians in the city.A lot of Japanese,Taiwanese, and Chinese.So, maybe I am part Asian!lol.I just helped this Japanese girl on Skype.She spoke no Spanish, but English.Maybe they have decent Asian food here, I´m going to ask her if she knows a good Japanese place.Anyway, that´s it for now.Ciao